Rehoboth Beach, Delaware (CNN) - Nearly 30 years after he was shot in the head during the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, former White House Press Secretary Jim Brady knows what U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is going through.

"Been there. Know that," Jim Brady said. "Sounds like she's got a great support group that's right there with her and that means a lot," he said.FULL POST

Spirit Lake, Iowa (CNN) – It was an unscripted moment on Sarah Palin's tour to promote her new book, "America by Heart." As hundreds of Palin's fans filed inside a cordoned off area of a northern Iowa Walmart today, this CNN crew popped the question asked of countless potential White House contenders: "Are you any closer to an announcement on running for President?"

The country music that Palin's handlers had blaring at the signing station presumably to drown out such questions suddenly stopped. We asked the question again.FULL POST

Philadelphia (CNN) – The contrast in Pennsylvania has come down to comparisons. Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey is accusing his Democratic opponent, Congressman Joe Sestak of being a rubber stamp for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Sestak responds that Toomey, a former Congressman himself, has also voted with Pelosi in his career. "He's such a San Francisco liberal," Sestak laughed.FULL POST

"I'd never been to Washington D.C.... until this election. I've gone three times just to familiarize myself and meet with some groups. But that's it," Johnson said.

A millionaire businessman running in his first election, Johnson is favored to take down three-term Democrat Russ Feingold. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released this week shows Johnson with an eight point lead.

Wilmington, Delaware (CNN) - Delaware Republican senate candidate Christine O'Donnell says she's "matured" since her now well-known appearances on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher back in the 1990's. But she acknowledged in an exclusive interview with CNN that the resurfaced clips have forced her to reinvent herself in the final weeks of the campaign.

"I haven't been embarrassed. And I'm not saying that I'm proud," O'Donnell said. "I've matured in my faith. I've matured in my policies. Today you have a forty something woman running for office. Not a 20 year old. So that's a big difference," she added.

Newark, Delaware (CNN) – Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell is asking voters to give her a second look. At a candidate forum sponsored by a group of local Republicans, O'Donnell blamed her campaign's recent troubles on unfair coverage in the "liberal media."

"I've put my name on the line. And I've taken a lot of hits ... a lot of character assassination," O'Donnell said.

Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio’s campaign is more complicated than it used to be.

Miami, Florida (CNN) - For Marco Rubio, life was simpler when it was tea time all the time.

When he was gunning for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Florida, the former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives aggressively courted the state's conservative Tea Party activists. That strategy worked. Rubio was suddenly a Tea Party favorite. His stunning rise in the polls forced Florida's more moderate governor, Charlie Crist, to bolt the GOP primary to run as an independent.

But the race is now more complicated, with Rubio competing in a three-way battle royal against both Crist and the Democratic nominee, South Florida Rep. Kendrick Meek.

Salt Lake City, Utah (CNN) - Utah's Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Mike Lee, is a vocal defender of what's become the bible of the Tea Party revolution: the U.S. Constitution.

"I hereby pledge to you that I will not vote for a single bill that I can't justify by the text and original understanding of the Constitution," he promised voters at a Tea Party rally this year.

But Lee, an attorney and former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, has advocated some breathtaking changes to the Constitution.

During his Tea Party-backed Senate campaign, Lee said he would support legislation aimed at altering the 14th Amendment's guarantee of automatic citizenship for people born in the United States. Advocates for tougher measures against illegal immigration say such a change would discourage undocumented workers from having children in the United States.'
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Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) - Nevada Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle just might be the Tea Party's biggest gamble yet. A staunch conservative with a history of making bold and sometimes controversial comments, Angle insists she's been taken out of context in her campaign to oust Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and told CNN in a rare interview, "I'll be a mainstream Senator."

A grandmother of 10 children who secured the backing of Tea Party leaders on her way to winning the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, Angle has been both praised and criticized for her views.

In past remarks during the campaign, Angle has said Social Security and Medicare should be phased out. She's also advocated the elimination of the Departments of Education and Energy, the EPA, and the IRS.